On Tuesday, May 30, 2017, Nigeria must have lost billions of naira to a sit-at-home that could have been avoided.

The Southeast States of Enugu, Anambra, Ebonyi, Abia and Imo obeyed a sit-at-home directive jointly issued by the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) and the Movement for the Actualization of a Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).

A few South South States like Bayelsa and Rivers also shuttered businesses and declared their communities free of vehicular movement.

The States were all commemorating 50 years to the day a young military Governor of the eastern region, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, declared the Bight of Biafra a republic; stirring secessionist chants that have outlived him.

“Now therefore I, Lieutenant-Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria, by virtue of the authority, and pursuant to the principles recited above, do hereby solemnly proclaim that the territory and region known as and called Eastern Nigeria together with her continental shelf and territorial waters shall henceforth be an independent sovereign state of the name and title of The Republic of Biafra", Ojukwu declared.

We are paying for the failure of leadership with the sprouting of ethnic militias like Egbesu boys, Boko Haram, Bakassi boys, OPC and Niger Delta militants.

Because the State has failed everyone, angry, frustrated and jobless impressionable youth have picked up guns and worthless causes in a bid to fend for themselves.

However, with agitations for a Biafra Republic not about to go anywhere anytime soon, let’s put this whole subject to a vote and let the people decide if they intend to remain or leave, through a plebiscite.

Let the lawmakers insert the possibility of referendums in the constitution and let’s keep negotiating the terms of our existence until we achieve some semblance of a nation that works for all.

At this point, it pays no one to keep avoiding the Biafra topic and trod on same like one is stepping on egg shells. We can't simply wish Biafra away. To deal with a problem, you’ve got to first discuss it.

To avoid another round of sit-at-home directives, violence and blood-letting in the name of Biafra, let’s head to the polls.

To prevent another radical like Kanu or MASSOB piggy-backing on Biafra to fool the people some more, let’s damn the consequences and ask the people to vote for themselves and their future.